diriment

If it could be assumed even in these Viagra-fuelled days that the old fellow would not ever have been in the position, as it were, to consummate the marriage, then Catlick teaching would have ruled that the marriage was null and void, an absolute niet-niente, as there was what we grandly call a 'diriment impediment'.

Too sad to watch? Ann Althouse 2007

By the doctrine of "diriment impediments" the Pope or a duly constituted representative can declare that a marriage has been null and void from the very beginning because of some impediment defined in the canon law.

A Short History of Women's Rights From the Days of Augustus to the Present Time. with Special Reference to England and the United States. Second Edition Revised, With Additions. Eugene A. Hecker

Consanguinity and affinity are diriment impediments.

A Short History of Women's Rights From the Days of Augustus to the Present Time. with Special Reference to England and the United States. Second Edition Revised, With Additions. Eugene A. Hecker

Congregation of the Sacraments (7 March, 1910), the power to dispense kings or royal princes from impediments, diriment or impedient, is henceforth reserved in a special manner to the Holy See, and all faculties granted heretofore in such cases to certain ordinaries are revoked.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 9: Laprade-Mass Liturgy 1840-1916 1913

When the Decretum of Gratian was published in the twelfth century, this impediment was recognized as a diriment one and it became part of the canon law of the Church.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 9: Laprade-Mass Liturgy 1840-1916 1913

Subservient Catholics and court theologians especially found it useful as warranting the secular power in making laws concerning validity and invalidity, diriment impediments, and the like.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 9: Laprade-Mass Liturgy 1840-1916 1913

Again the matrimonial courts may find on the evidence adduced that a marriage is null and void; there may have been a known or a hidden diriment impediment when the marriage was contracted.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 9: Laprade-Mass Liturgy 1840-1916 1913

A true marriage is one duly contracted and capable of being proved in the ordinary way; a presumptive marriage, when the law presumes a marriage to exist; a putative marriage, when it is believed to be valid, but is in reality null and void, owing to the existence of a hidden diriment impediment.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 9: Laprade-Mass Liturgy 1840-1916 1913

A further reason is that the Church claims jurisdiction over such mixed marriages, institutes diriment impediments to them, and grants dispensations.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 9: Laprade-Mass Liturgy 1840-1916 1913

Only diriment conditions are opposed to the essence of the Sacrament of Marriage, because it consists in an indissoluble contract.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 9: Laprade-Mass Liturgy 1840-1916 1913